Move out of brooder?

[BCLFarm]

Good morning. Sadly, my lakenvelder baby did not make it. Still unsure what was wrong-rickets or something else. Thank you to those who offered suggestions.
For my 4 remaining babies.. I have never integrated babies into the flock. So am very nervous about doing this. My older girls are 3. My babies are 4 weeks. I have to have a screen on the brooder because they jump up on the water or feed and try to jump out. So am wondering since it is warm enough outside during the day, should I put our big wire dog crate out in the run and put the chicks in it with their food and water so they can be around the older girls but safe from pecking? Then put in the brooder at night.. Maybe I should double check the size of the wire spacing on the dog crate to make sure they can not get out of the crate.
Our set up is the coop with a fully enclosed run (still has the winterized plastic on the roof which is nice should it ever rain again, also provides some shade depending on where the sun is) then off the run we have a fenced in area for “free ranging” around the perimeter of the garden (garden is fenced so they don’t dig up and destroy my crop). There is lots of room for them. But I do not want to put the babies out fully free yet, they are still too small. They have most their feathers but still have some of their baby fluff also.
Thank you in advance for your help.

 

[M-H-Fielding]

I think it would be fine to put them in the wire crate.
Really sorry about your lakenveldor!

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Yes. Weather permitting (and fortunate for me, it almost always is), the "see and be seen" portion of flock integration can begin as early as 3 weeks if your birds are mostly feathered, and your climate is mostly mild. If the crate has small enough wire to prevent major pecking (most do), you should be fine.

Important they have the opportunity, adults and chicks, to feed very near to one another, so they get used to that behavior. "Abundance" is a social lubricant, much of the "bad" behaviors with integrations gone wrong are associated with fights over scarcity - food, perch, water, etc. Sometimes, access to hens (roosters). Some pecking to establish the social order is unavoidable, of course - but with an adequate see and be seen, at least the newcomers won't be viewed as undersized invaders when that begins.

If the crate can be roofed, sheltered from drafts, and the temperatures moderate, you may even be able to let the birds sleep there overnight in the coming weeks, if they are otherwise predator protected by your run. As you didn't list a location, I can't guess - I personally look for 70s overnight when moving out my feathered hatchlings.

 

[Auntiejessi3]

Good morning. Sadly, my lakenvelder baby did not make it. Still unsure what was wrong-rickets or something else. Thank you to those who offered suggestions.
For my 4 remaining babies.. I have never integrated babies into the flock. So am very nervous about doing this. My older girls are 3. My babies are 4 weeks. I have to have a screen on the brooder because they jump up on the water or feed and try to jump out. So am wondering since it is warm enough outside during the day, should I put our big wire dog crate out in the run and put the chicks in it with their food and water so they can be around the older girls but safe from pecking? Then put in the brooder at night.. Maybe I should double check the size of the wire spacing on the dog crate to make sure they can not get out of the crate.
Our set up is the coop with a fully enclosed run (still has the winterized plastic on the roof which is nice should it ever rain again, also provides some shade depending on where the sun is) then off the run we have a fenced in area for “free ranging” around the perimeter of the garden (garden is fenced so they don’t dig up and destroy my crop). There is lots of room for them. But I do not want to put the babies out fully free yet, they are still too small. They have most their feathers but still have some of their baby fluff also.
Thank you in advance for your help.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/change-of-plans.1454019/

This is what I did with the advice from some great folks on here and it worked out great! Easy breezy

 

[BCLFarm]

Panoramic view of the big girls and the babies. This is inside the chicken run. Sprinkled some meal worms on ground outside dog crate. So far big girls aren’t interested in babies at all.